Institutes

Rom8 as the Institute of Tropical Fascism

I paused beside Koschei the Immortal. The great villain lived in a comfortable, separate cage with carpets, air conditioning and bookshelves. The walls of the cage were hung with portraits of Genghis Khan, Himmler, Catherine Medici, one of the Borgias and either Goldwater or McCarthy. Koschei himself, wearing a shimmering dressing-gown, was standing in front of an immense lectern with one leg crossed over the other, reading an offset copy of Hammer of the Witches; at the same time he was making unpleasant movements with his fingers—screwing or thrusting something in or ripping something off. He was detained in eternal confinement awaiting trial while a never-ending investigation was conducted into his infinite number of crimes.